Headlines and decks

[ballparkman]

We have a new, young designer who is very talented. However, he wrote a one-column headline with three decks and then a four-deck subhead. I told him that it's wise to keep the subhead decks shorter than the main heads and to do something like 2 over 1 or 3 over 2 or 4 over 3 instead of 3 over 4. He shrugged and said "my rule is just not to go more than 8 total decks."

It seems I was told to keep the second deck lighter than the first, but I can't be sure.

Any thoughts?

 

[Rusty Shackleford]

I always try to use fewer subhead decks than main head decks. Think it looks better.

 

[IGotQuestions]

the deck generally always has more words than the main head. as long as the main head "looks" bigger and fuller is our rule.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

That sounds
like a very
bad idea
Even for a
youngster
working at
Podunk Press

 

[shotglass]

I won't go over five, and that only on a one-column head. Three main lines, two deck lines.

Will only use three deck lines as one-column, and as a readout under a wider head.

 

[Starman]

 

[SF_Express]

It's hard to believe I haven't written anything but a one-line standalone head (story/column/recap) or a two or three-word hammer head (cover story) in coming up on 10 years.

 

[fishwrapper]

Eight
Total
Decks?
Eat shirt!

Look Here
Punk, I'm
Going to
Deck You

 

[pallister]

You often can't say much in a 2-deck, one-column subhead, which makes them pretty worthless. Three-deck subheads with one-column heads are fine. Occassionally, I'll use a four-deck subhead if pertinent information would be left out without doing so. And it doesn't look bad as long as the headline font is signficantly bigger.

 

[I'll never tell]

if everyone's heck is different, mine will be writing one-column headlines

 

[imjustagirl2]

Our paper puts deckheads on virtually everything. I could count on both hands the number of times I've had a story with no subhead in the two-plus years I've been working here. And they're all (well, 90 percent) 1-column, 3-deck subheads.

 

[SCEditor]

Whenever I think of headlines and decks, I always think of the first page I ever designed, which included a two-column, four-deck headline with the word "thinclad" in it. I had a long ways to go when I started.